(1) Commercial trainers who don't seem to care about form. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen trainers in my gym getting people to squat (often on the smith machine) but only go down about half as far as they should.

(2) Huge guys with poor form. I have worked my @ss off to get up to 72 kgs and always focus on form. The other day I saw two separate, massive and cut guys doing some kind of deadlift, bending at the waist but hips not going back, back rounded, some knee flexion, and lowering the weights to a position IN FRONT of their toes). Then there was the standard guys getting their back into the DB curls (also huge).

My gym is pretty good, but some jackass up the 65's where the 75's go.

I fixed them before I started lifting. I couldn't work in those conditions...

And also experienced my first pair of 130lber's checking out their abs in the mirror. Pretty funny.

hs AND college are out, so there are a ton of boners at the gym. it's like 5-10 dudes who really want to lift weights, and then 15-20 retards. i was sitting on the one bench and i watched a kid struggler with 2 35lb db's while he put them in the slot for the 70's. "you know that's now where they go right?". kid just kinda looked at me like i had 2 heads.

My biggest ones are those little punks that scream like they're giving birth and then drop the weights on the floor. Like it is somehow cool to drop the weights like a little bitch. It's annoying because they land with a loud thud and they get bent after a while.

dumbell droppers are pure anathema to me. My gym is rubbish, the heaviest dumbells used to be 32.5k (about 70lbs i think) but some idiot dropped them and now the heaviest are 30k (65 lbs or so). It may only be 2.5k difference but it's still a pain in the arse when the 30k are too light now.

(2) Huge guys with poor form. I have worked my @ss off to get up to 72 kgs and always focus on form. The other day I saw two separate, massive and cut guys doing some kind of deadlift, bending at the waist but hips not going back, back rounded, some knee flexion, and lowering the weights to a position IN FRONT of their toes). Then there was the standard guys getting their back into the DB curls (also huge).

Sh!ts me.

You would hate me then. Not that I'm huge yet, but I'm sure you would be appalled at my form on pretty much everything but DL & Squat.

I guess the way I see it, if huge people are doing, say DB rows, with a little cheat, and they are huge, it must work that way right? They are huge.

And if two more reps of curls are gonna help me get bigger arms, and I need some back to move them, I'm using my back.

I was so mad from my last post i forgot to mention people who load up way too much weight on the lat pulldown, grunt and scream, then drop the weights in a loud crash. After this they get up and look around to see who was watching. Reminds me of gorrillas who beat their chests.

My gym has 2 newgroups - the Shrug brigade, and the Bicep Brigade. I think i've mentioned other notable characters in threads like this before, like, Mr Bench Press and 'The Shrug Brothers'. The Shrug Brigade are different from the shrug brothers. Think of the shrug brigade as a group of around eight 130lbers doing shrugs IN THE SQUAT RACK for about 40 minutes. The shrug brothers, though, they're bad ass. Sort of remind me of 'The Legion of Doom - Animal and Hawk. Quite short guys, very similar build, like bowling balls with arms and legs, loads of tattoos, skin heads, and all they seem to do is a variety of shrugs, with as much weight as possible. Wear army style clothing. 2 of my favourite guys in the gym. Mr bench press is bad ass too.

The shrug brigade make we want to chew on an olympic barbell, though.

And the Bicep brigade. Jeeez. Where do I start. Like the shrug brigade, there's about 8 of them. But, this is a different group of 130lbers. What they do is, get loads of fixed barbells and sit them on the floor infront of the DB rack. Then they take out various DB's, and set them on the floor with the fixed BB's, in some sort of organised fashion. What they do is set up like, 6 Bicep exercises, and go round them all in a circuit fashion. Not only are they completely wasting they're time, but they get in your way when you try to get to the DB rack. They stand right infront of it, training bi's, you know. Not only that, but they've took up half the equipment in the gym. And not only that, they all have phones on them, and they're all dressed up like they're in a nightclub. It's like, everything you despise, all rolled into one group. The shrug brigade are exactly the same, only, they take up an Obar and the rack. My only comfort is these 2 new groups will be gone by the end of July, tops. They're clearly part of the flurry of members you get the 2-3 months before summer, so they'll be gone soon.

Another thing I've grown to despise is the cardio/conditioning freaks that have some kind of issue with guys that lift heavy things. Where did their manhood go - why are they so sensitive? Why do guys lifting weights bother them so much? Men do manly things, you know. Lifting heavy things is fun. Whatever happened to those values. Now men wear make up and use manbags and use sunbeds and cry and give hugs n stuff. It's not on.

Anyway, back to my point.

I've mentioned before that one of the new managers is a freakishly strong ex highland games and ex strong man competitor, looking to start powerlifting, who pulls over 600lbs at 210-220. Well, he's made a great impact on the gym. The free weights area is getting expanded, we should be getting a propper power rack and DL platform, and more benches and things like that.

One of the things he started was the "100K Club". Next to the bench press, he put a sheet up. Whoever could bench 100KG (220lbs), puts their name up, along with how many reps. A staff member needs to be present to witness the event. And that's it - no bodyweight or anything. just a bit of fun. The most reps with a 100Kg is the leader. Simple as that.

I predicted that there would be an increase in shoulder injuries. But, you know me, need to get my bit in.

It was up ONE day then these guys started moaning their face off about it. The manager that started it never went into specifics, just told me he had to take it down because of complaints, and told me the 'group' responsible. Why the hell would it bother them? So weird... We're supposed to have a PL comp in the gym to see who's the strongest and I don't think that'll happen now because of people like that.

Know how many women complained??? Zero.

I just don't get it. These are the kind of guys that tell me I'll destroy my spine and all that crap. The don't say it in a respectable way, they'll say to someone beside them, so that you can blatantly hear them, "I don't squat like that, it just wrecks you knees". My favourite response is, "well you're f****d when you go sit on the toilet then aren't you". They pretty much hate me but they bring it on themselves.

These guys are probably my biggest hate. I'll take the Bicep brigade over them anyday.

that's shocking that they had to take that down, what possible reason could they have for complaining except feelings of inadequacy? Some anorexic weasle in the spin class caught the smell of testosterone in the air and wet himself. I think stuff like that's really good, I'm not a super competitive guy or anything but it makes it fun! Gets people talking as well and makes the gym a bit friendlier. Even my useless gym has a competition to see who can do the most of a certain dumbell complex.

it's up to you to keep the 100k club alive KPj, tell your manager to get a little black book and keep it in his office. Start your own powerlifting skull and bones society with its own handshake and everything.

I said to him that the gym needs to decide which direction it's going.

I wreckon there's a trend right now with gyms. More free weights, or less free weights. In my gym, for example, the weights area is quite small, but it's getting so popular with lot's of different people using it, that they need to make it bigger now. Trainers are realising that most of their clients should be lifting. And women are slowluy realising that they should be lifting. Doesn't mean either are doing a good job, but it's a start.

So, with the direction thing - There are gyms that have no Barbells(seriously-the gym formerly known as canons is a good example) and not very heavy DB's, and no racks of any kind. This keeps serious lifters out, and that's what some gyms want. That's fair enough. My point was, at my gym just now, there's about 600KG worth of weight, there's olympic bars, a rack, and DB's up to 50KG/110LBS. If they don't want some serious lifters in, then they're going the wrong way about it. And, if serious lifters is what they DO want, then guys like the cardio freaks mentioned early shouldn't get a say in stuff put up to help motivate people who lift. If they don't like it, they should go join a gym designed to keep strong guys out.

That's my view anyway. Obviously I don't run the business or pay the bills so it's easy for me to say. Realistically I think the gym tried to cater for most, so things like this happen. My brothers gym had a similar situation at one point. That gym (greens - close to you) actually put the weights in a separate room - hide them away (david loyd do this as well). When my brothers gym got heavier DB's in, cardio freaks complained, and they don't even need to see them being lifted!! It's bizarre...

Reminds of the 'letters' section of local newspapers, where people write in things like, "i was at the park just the other day and I was disgusted with the way an elderly chap was handling his dog, soemthing must be done - AT ONCE!". It could be a legitimate conern but what the hell is writing into the letters section a newspaper going to do, other than amuse people like me who read them and lap up the disgust. Sometimes you'll get the dog walker write in "I've been training dogs very succesfully for 150 years thank you very much". Hilarious. But why bother. Moan for the sake of moaning. Could be a Scottish thing as I appear to be doing that right now.

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